Mohegan

The Mohegans were a functional confederation of several branches of Native Americans during the 16th century and the beginning of the 17th century. Originally they had lands on both sides of the Hudson River. In the 17th century, they migrated east and settled in Connecticut, where they live today. They are now known as the Pequot.

Contents

1 History

2 Mohegan language

3 Mohegan vs. Mahican (and Mohican)

4 The Mohegans today

5 External links

6 Bibliography

History

For unknown reasons, parts of the confederation chose to spread eastward toward Connecticut, thus weakening the confederation considerably. The Mohegans who migrated east later became known as the Pequot tribe. As these Mohegans moved east, they encountered many other peoples, and were able to subjugate each of these. Thus they named themselves "Pequot": The Destroyers.

When the Pequot chief Sassacus began his war with the English, chief Uncas allied himself with Sassacus. In the meantime, Uncas had a worthwhile trade with the English, and wanted no war with these people. Therefore Uncas and his allies deserted the Pequot and founded the Mohegan branch. These two branches thenceforward faced each other with continuing hostility. In the following war Uncas advanced himself as a true ally of the English, and was a great force toward the destruction of his erstwhile people. But Sassacus and some other Pequots managed to flee from the massacre. He went with his followers back to the Mohegans, with whom he hoped to hide. However, the Mohegans, in the meantime, had become subject to the Mohawks, who had conquered them. The Mohawks beheaded Sassacus and sent his head to Hartford as proof of their loyalty.

Mohegan language

Mohegan also refers generally to the four dialects of the same Algonquian language spoken by the various of the Mohegan groups. These dialects include

Mohegan
Pequot
Montauk (a.k.a. Montauketts)
Niantic

The Mohegans and the Pequots lived in eastern Connecticut. The Montauks lived across the Long Island Sound on eastern Long Island.

Fidelia Fielding, the last known native speaker of Mohegan, died in 1908.

Mohegan vs. Mahican (and Mohican)

The names Mohegan and Mahican, having similar pronunciations, are often confused. However, the two names refer to different ethnolinguistic groups. These two groups are often mistakenly conflated into a single group. To add to further confusion, a separate term Mohican has often been used to refer to both Mohegans and Mahicans and also to this erroneous conflation.

The Mahicans were an Algonquian tribe living in and around the Hudson Valley, and are the tribe referred to in James Fenimore Cooper's novel The Last of the Mohicans (which does confuse the Mahicans with the Mohegans to some extent). Cooper's novel is blamed in part for perpetuating the confusion between the two groups.

The Mohegans today

They continue to live today, still primarily in Connecticut. Under their chief Ralph W. Sturges the tribe gained federal recognization and won the right to build and operate a casino and hotel, the Mohegan Sun, on their reservation in Uncasville, Connecticut. There have also been projects to record as much as the Mohegan language as possible from the tribe's elders and record it on CD-ROM to teach to younger generations. They also own a Women's National Basketball Association team, the Connecticut Sun, who plays their home games on the tribe's resort.

The Mashantucket Pequots live nearby and operate the Foxwoods Resort Casino in Ledyard, Connecticut.

External links

Bibliography

Campbell, Lyle. (1997). American Indian languages: The historical linguistics of Native America. New York: Oxford University Press. ISBN 0-19-509427-1.
Campbell, Lyle; & Mithun, Marianne (Eds.). (1979). The languages of native America: Historical and comparative assessment. Austin: University of Texas Press. ISBN 0-292-74624-5.
Campbell, Lyle; & Mithun, Marianne. (1979). Introduction: North American Indian historical linguistics in current perspective. In L. Campbell & M. Mithun (Eds.), The languages of native America: Historical and comparative assessment (pp. 3-69). Austin: University of Texas Press.
Conkey, Laura E.; Bolissevain, Ethel; & Goddard, Ives. (1978). Indians of southern New England and Long Island: Late period. In B. G. Trigger (Ed.), Northeast (pp. 177-189). Handbook of North American Indian languages (Vol. 15). Washington, D.C.: Smithsonian Institution.
Goddard, Ives. (1978). Eastern Algonquian languages. In B. G. Trigger (Ed.), Northeast (pp. 70-77). Handbook of North American Indian languages (Vol. 15). Washington, D.C.: Smithsonian Institution.
Goddard, Ives. (1979). Comparative Algonquian. In L. Campbell & M. Mithun (Eds.), The languages of native America: Historical and comparative assessment (pp. 70-132). Austin: University of Texas Press.
Goddard, Ives. (1996). Languages. Handbook of North American Indians (Vol. 17). Washington, D. C.: Smithsonian Institution. ISBN 0-1604-8774-9.
Goddard, Ives. (1999). Native languages and language families of North America (rev. and enlarged ed. with additions and corrections). [Map]. Lincoln, NE: University of Nebraska Press (Smithsonian Institute). (Updated version of the map in Goddard 1996). ISBN 0-8032-9271-6.
Mithun, Marianne. (1999). The languages of Native North America. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. ISBN 0-521-23228-7 (hbk); ISBN 0-521-29875-X (pbk).
Salwen, Bert. (1978). Indians of southern New England and Long Island: Early period. In B. G. Trigger (Ed.), Northeast (pp. 160-176). Handbook of North American Indian languages (Vol. 15). Washington, D.C.: Smithsonian Institution.
Simpson, J. A.; & Weiner, E. S. C. (1989). ["Mohican" entry]. Oxford English Dictionary. Oxford: Clarendon Press. (Online version).
Sturtevant, William C. (Ed.). (1978-present). Handbook of North American Indians (Vol. 1-20). Washington, D. C.: Smithsonian Institution.
Trigger, Bruce G. (Ed.). (1978). Northeast. Handbook of North American Indians (Vol. 15). Washington, D. C.: Smithsonian Institution.